From My Backyard to Our Bay It s the 911 for the Chesapeake Bay

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1 From My Backyard to Our Bay Reporting Problems on Our Bay, Rivers, and Streams We can all be the eyes and ears of our local waterways. Maryland has established the Chesapeake Bay Safety and Environmental Hotline as a toll-free phone number for reporting problems on tidal waters. One call will direct you to the appropriate agency to make a report 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. Use the hotline to report any of the following: Fish kill or algae bloom Public sewer leak or overflow Oil or hazardous material spill Wetlands violation Floating debris that poses a hazard to navigation Suspicious or unusual activity Boating accident or reckless activity Illegal fishing activity Midshore RIVERKEEPER Conservancy (MRC) You can also voice your stewardship concerns about issues in tidal and non-tidal waters to your local RIVERKEEPER. Both the Choptank and Miles-Wye riverkeepers can be reached at (443) or info@midshoreriverkeeper.org It s the 911 for the Chesapeake Bay Pollution. Trash accumulates at the end of a creek. Photo courtesy of Environmental Concern Inc. at www. wetland.org. 4 Algae Bloom. Midshore RIVERKEEPER Drew Koslow pulls a robust sample of green algae sea lettuce from the Miles River. MRC identifies sources of excessive nutrient loading and works with property owners to reduce the pollution from their properties. Photo courtesy of Midshore RIVERKEEPER Conservancy.

2 Environmental Challenges in Your Community Restoring the Chesapeake Bay People living in Talbot County enjoy the benefits of living near the Chesapeake Bay the small towns, rural landscape, fishing and boating opportunities, and views of the water. Our lifestyles and livelihoods are tied to the Bay and its health. State and Federal programs have led many programs to address Bay health issues. In May 2009, the President declared the Chesapeake Bay is a National Treasure constituting the largest estuary in the United States and one of the largest and most biologically productive estuaries in the world. He signed an executive order calling for renewed efforts to restore the Bay. The Chesapeake Bay and its tributaries are suffering from excessive amount of nutrients, oxygen-demanding materials, and other pollutants. Many of these pollutants cause excessive amounts of algae, or algae blooms. When these blooms die off, they use up the valuable oxygen in the water during the decay process, which greatly reduces the amount of oxygen available to fish, crabs, oysters, and other aquatic life. In 2010 Federal Agencies began to work with the Chesapeake Bay watershed states to define water quality goals and implement measures, defined in part by Total Maximum Daily Loads (TMDLs), designed to deal with Bay pollutants and restore the Bay s health. Each State, County, and Municipality has a part to play in achieving those goals. How Pollutants Get Into the Bay Pollutants are carried by water and pulled by gravity to lower elevations that eventually flow into the Chesapeake Bay and it tributaries. Watersheds and the hydrologic cycle, or water cycle, play an important role in how much and how quickly contaminants enter the Bay. Watershed Map for Talbot County: The Choptank and Upper Eastern Shore watersheds define the Talbot County portion of the Chesapeake Bay Watershed. As shown, the Choptank watershed is made up of seven subwatersheds: Easton, Upper Choptank, Lower Choptank, Trappe, Oxford, St. Michaels, and Tuckahoe Creek. Similarly, the Upper Eastern Shore watershed is made up of two subwatersheds: Wye River and Miles River. Map courtesy of Talbot County Government. 5

3 From My Backyard to Your Bay What is a Watershed? A watershed consists of all the land areas that drain into a specific body of water. Topography the elevation and contour of the land determines where and how fast water will flow and eventually drain to a surface water body such as a stream, creek, or river. Watersheds may cross county, state, or even national borders. Every resident of Talbot County lives in either the Choptank or Upper Eastern Shore watershed, and most residents live within one-half mile from a storm drain, stream or river. These watersheds support more than 40 species of fish and an abundance of other aquatic and land-based life. What Part Does the Hydrologic Cycle Play? The water cycle, or hydrologic cycle, describes the movement of water on, through, and below the Earth s surface (see figure to the right). When in the form of vapor, liquid or ice, water carries pollutants from one area to another through evaporation, condensation, precipitation, infiltration, runoff, and subsurface flow. The downhill flow of rain water on land carries pollutants it picks up along its path. What is Runoff? Runoff is water flowing downhill as it is pulled by gravity; it is The Water or Hydrologic Cycle. Water continuously cycles in many forms. Air pollutants are picked up and carried by rainwater; ground pollutants are carried by runoff. Figure courtesy of most often from a storm event and referred to as stormwater runoff, but can also be water from a sprinkler system or other source. There are two important aspects to runoff: Water Quality (pollutants, nutrients, sediment) and Water Quantity (water volume that runs off rather than sinking into the ground). WATER QUALITY Pollutants are considered contaminants to the natural environment. As water moves, it picks up what it can in its path, including pollutants, and carries these along with it. Water pollution fits into two categories: point and non-point sources. (NOTE: Rain water falling directly into an ocean or river also carries a substantial amount of pollution; see page 28.) A point source is a concentrated discharge, like the outflow from a pipe at an industrial operation or sewage treatment plant. These sources are regulated and carefully monitored. 6

4 Environmental Challenges in Your Community Non-point source (NPS) pollution is often difficult to identify, but still very important to manage. Typically, NPS is characterized by stormwater flowing over large areas such as parking lots, lawns, farms and roads, and draining to gutters, storm drains, and streams. WATER QUANTITY The quantity of water filling our aquifers and other groundwater supplies is affected by changes at the surface of the land. Undisturbed land allows for the natural infiltration of water through the soil and to groundwater sources. As land is developed, an increasing amount is covered by buildings, roads, parking lots, and other hard surfaces. These are known as impervious surfaces which means the surface does not allow for water to filter through the soil these surfaces form a barrier to our underwater reservoirs. When the water cannot be absorbed in the soil, it runs Impact of the Increasing Area of Impervious Surface. As land development continues, more hard surfaces cover the land, thus decreasing the ability of the land to absorb rain water. This reduces the amount of water filtering through to our water tables, and increases the amount of runoff carrying pollutants to our Bay. Figure courtesy of across the surface. These hardened surfaces contribute directly to runoff. Each time it rains water runs quickly off these hard surfaces and into our streams. Water levels in the streams rise quickly, sometimes causing flash floods. Then after the rain the stream flow returns to normal. These flash floods scour the bottoms of the streams, deepen the stream channels, cause bank erosion, and alter the habitat for fish and other creatures in the stream. As little as a 10% change in impervious cover can result in stream degradation. This also becomes important since we rely on groundwater aquifers for our water supply. Infiltration recharges these aquifers and provides us with fresh water. Guidelines in this book will help residents do a better job at managing these non-point sources of pollution and excess runoff volume from our properties, through practices involving rain gardens, rain barrels, cisterns, stormwater ponds, lawn and landscape maintenance, native plantings, and more. It also addresses ways to increase infiltration. 7

5 From My Backyard to Our Bay Are You in the Critical Area? Talbot County has approximately 600 miles of shoreline formed by many rivers, creeks, and coves. The Critical Area is defined as 1,000 feet beyond the landward boundary of State or tidal wetlands and the heads of tides. The Talbot County Chesapeake Bay Critical Area encompasses 65,689 acres or about 38% of the County s total land area. Homeowners living within 1,000 feet of tidal waters or tidal wetlands live in the Critical Area and have obligations guided by County, State and Federal regulations to help keep our Bay clean. These homeowners are our first line of defense! Stop and ask! Any land- or vegetation-disturbing activities, such as building a structure or cutting down a tree (alive or dead), carried out within this 1,000 feet in Talbot County first requires contacting Talbot County Planning and Zoning (see contact information in Help Box ). A representative will help you determine what steps to take, and what regulatory offices you will need to contact. A complete resource guiding Critical Area property owners in these matters is The Green Book for the Bay (see reference to online source below). Additionally, residents need to take special precautions with yard care especially fertilizer, herbicide, and pesticide application in the Critical Area. These topics are addressed in the following pages of this booklet and 200-Foot Buffers: Within the Critical Area, there is an even more sensitive zone, a buffer immediately along the shoreline, that serves as a transition between upland and aquatic habitats. This Critical Area Buffer, required by the Critical Area law in Talbot County, is measured 100 or 200 feet inland from mean high water, the landward extent of tidal wetlands, and the edge of tributary streams. The buffer applicable to your land depends upon when your plot was developed. Where steep slopes or particularly sensitive soils are present, the buffer may be even greater. Contact Talbot County Planning and Zoning to determine what buffer area applies in your case. Plans for building projects disturbing or removing more than 5,000 square feet of ground cover must be also submitted to local and State agencies. For more information visit Talbot Soil Conservation o District s website. e WHERE TO GET HELP FOR... CRITICAL AREA Talbot County Planning and Zoning at (410) , or Maryland Chesapeake Bay Critical Area Commission at criticalarea/compliance.asp Talbot Soil Conservation District at (410) , ext. 3, or The Green Book for the Bay go to University of Maryland Extension Talbot County at (410) or 8